Research Bio
Michael L. Anderson is an applied microeconomist whose research examines transportation, environmental policy, and the economics of cities. He is best known for causal analyses of how transit and congestion pricing affect welfare and pollution, including influential work using discontinuities and natural experiments to estimate the value of time, traffic externalities, and safety effects. Anderson blends reduced-form econometrics with modeling and large administrative datasets to evaluate policies such as HOV/HOT lanes, fuel economy standards, and transit expansions. His studies of the Los Angeles transit system and highway congestion have shaped debates on mobility and climate policy.
He is Professor of Agricultural & Resource Economics at UC Berkeley and a Faculty Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research. His articles appear in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, and Review of Economic Studies. Recognitions include the Sloan Research Fellowship and NSF support for work at the intersection of transportation and environmental economics. At Berkeley, he teaches econometrics and environmental/urban economics, advising students on policy-relevant empirical research.
Research Expertise and Interest
health economics, environmental economics, transportation economics
In the News
Crowd-sourced online reviews help fill restaurant seats, study finds
A new study by UC Berkeley economists analyzed restaurant ratings on Yelp.com and found that, on a scale of 1 to 5, a half-star rating increase translates into a 19 percent greater likelihood that an eatery’s seats will be full during peak dining times. The study, published this month in the Economic Journal, found that the increase is independent of changes in price or in food and service quality.